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- Artist: The Grateful Dead
- Rating:
- Release Date: March 17, 1967
- Total Time: 34:53
- Genre: Rock
Review
The Grateful Dead's eponymously titled debut long-player was issued in mid-March of 1967. This gave rise to one immediate impediment -- the difficulty in attempting to encapsulate/recreate the Dead's often improvised musical magic onto a single LP. Unfortunately, the sterile environs of the recording studio disregards the subtle and often not-so-subtle ebbs and zeniths that are so evident within a live experience. So, while this studio recording ultimately fails in accurately exhibiting the Grateful Dead's tremendous range, it's a valiant attempt to corral the group's hydra-headed psychedelic jug-band music on vinyl. Under the technical direction of Dave Hassinger -- who had produced the Rolling Stones as well as the Jefferson Airplane -- the Dead recorded the album in Los Angeles during a Ritalin-fuelled "long weekend" in early 1967. Rather than prepare all new material for the recording sessions, a vast majority of the disc is comprised of titles that the band had worked into their concurrent performance repertoire. This accounts for the unusually high ratio (seven:two) of folk and blues standards to original compositions. The entire group took credit for the slightly saccharine "Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)," while Jerry Garcia (guitar/vocals) is credited for the noir garage-flavored raver "Cream Puff War." Interestingly, both tracks were featured as the respective A- and B-sides of the only 45 rpm single derived from this album. The curious aggregate of cover tunes featured on the Dead's initial outing also demonstrates the band's wide-ranging musical roots and influences. These include Pigpen's greasy harp-fuelled take on Sonny Boy Williamson's "Good Morning Little School Girl" and the minstrel one-man-band folk of Jessie "the Lone Cat" Fuller's "Beat It On Down the Line." The apocalyptic Cold War folk anthem "Morning Dew" (aka "[Walk Me Out in The] Morning Dew") is likewise given a full-bodied electric workout as is the obscure jug-band stomper "Viola Lee Blues." Fittingly, the Dead would continue to play well over half of these tracks in concert for the next 27 years. [Due to the time limitations inherent within the medium, the original release included severely edited performances of "Good Morning Little School Girl," "Sitting on Top of the World," "Cream Puff War," "Morning Dew," and "New, New Minglewood Blues." These tracks were restored in 2001, when the Dead's Warner Brothers catalog was reassessed for the Golden Road (1965-1973) box set.] ~ Lindsay Planer, All Music GuideTracks
| Track Title | Composers | Performers | Time |
| The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion) | Jerry Garcia | Grateful Dead | (2:07) |
| Beat It on Down the Line | Jesse Fuller | Grateful Dead | (2:27) |
| Good Morning Little Schoolgirl | Sonny Boy Williamson | Grateful Dead | (5:56) |
| Cold Rain and Snow (Lyrics) | Traditional | Grateful Dead | (2:25) |
| Sitting on Top of the World (Lyrics) | Walter Vinson, |
Grateful Dead | (2:01) |
| Cream Puff War (Lyrics) | Jerry Garcia | Grateful Dead | (2:25) |
| Morning Dew (Lyrics) | Tim Rose, Bonnie Dobson | Grateful Dead | (5:00) |
| New, New Minglewood Blues (Lyrics) | Traditional | Grateful Dead | (2:31) |
| Viola Lee Blues (Lyrics) | Noah Lewis | Grateful Dead | (10:01) |
